ONCE again the weekend proved without question that only one set of results really matter to football fans ... and they are not those of the interim kind.

The timing could not have been any worse for the Celtic board in terms of the unveiling of their outstanding six-month financial figures which reveal a bank debt of just £970,000 and housekeeping that is the envy of many around the game.

Peter Lawwell and John Reid appeared across various media spectrums from Friday afternoon onwards rightly talking-up their interim results.

But does any of this matter a jot to the punters who trooped out of Fir Park yesterday digesting the unpalatable fact that their side are off the top of the SPL for the first time since the first week of November?

Does Lawwell's staunch denial of accusations that the team-sheet has come second to the balance sheet stand up in the eyes of a support now getting extremely uneasy about a championship race many said was over when Celtic left Ibrox on December 27 with a seven-point advantage?

Granted, goal difference is all that separates the Old Firm, but Rangers have the momentum having whittled down Celtic's lead.

On January 4, Walter Smith sent his side out at Inverness with the gap standing at eight points. Rangers won that game, but then imploded in a month of turmoil, ironically over their own cash-strapped books.

However, to their credit, the Ibrox side have plugged away and now sit top of the pile, racking up results while Celtic's lack of a cutting edge has seen them win just one of their last half dozen SPL matches.

So, for all the financial picture is pretty, will the accounts act as a deflector for the heat that will come the way of Lawwell, Reid et al should Rangers remain in first place?

Celtic are right to run the club properly, but here's the rub. If they don't win the title, then the passage to the Champions League next season - the very promised land that delivered much of the money highlighted in these books -will be fraught with massive dangers.

Fail to secure those funds and, all of a sudden, the financial outlook is not so bright. Celtic's debts are so low that they could manage one year of no Champions League cash.

But the punters' argument is would it not be better to have debts of around five or six million, with a new left-back and striker in place for the second half of the season?

There is no question Celtic did try to get new faces last month, but they have taken one almighty gamble by going with what they have. Up front they are toothless. Gordon Strachan even tried all three of his strikers at Motherwell in the starting line-up, but only Scott McDonald looks sharp. The other two are statue-like.

By the time Strachan gets into the dug-out at Parkhead this weekend when St Mirren arrive, Rangers could be three points clear if they take care of Hamilton.

Behind him, in the comfy seats of the directors' box, there are bound to be some sitting uncomfortably if that is the scenario ...